"No people ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument [of] the Incorporated National Will.
"...When our dictator turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American.
"And nobody will ever say 'Heil' to him, nor will they call him 'Führer' or 'Duce.'
"But they will greet him with one great big, universal, democratic, sheeplike bleat of
'O.K., Chief! Fix it like you wanna, Chief! Oh Kaaaay!'"
--American journalist Dorothy Thompson (right), quote from 1935
Known as the First Lady of American Journalism, Thompson (1894-1961) was head of the New York Evening Post's Berlin office from 1925 until Germany evicted her in 1934.
This is a re-post from ten years ago, April 8, 2008, when George W. Bush was in his final year as president.
(So, the 4 comments are from 2008 too.)
I've heard people say Trump makes Bush look good, but I don't agree at all.
Bush was a precursor:
it was his response to 9/11 in the first place that got us into these endless murderous wars & policies [Guantanamo] and amped up the ongoing politics of fear.
"...When our dictator turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American.
"And nobody will ever say 'Heil' to him, nor will they call him 'Führer' or 'Duce.' "But they will greet him with one great big, universal, democratic, sheeplike bleat of
'O.K., Chief! Fix it like you wanna, Chief! Oh Kaaaay!'"
--American journalist Dorothy Thompson (right), quote from 1935
Known as the First Lady of American Journalism, Thompson (1894-1961) was head of the New York Evening Post's Berlin office from 1925 until Germany evicted her in 1934.
This is a re-post from ten years ago, April 8, 2008, when George W. Bush was in his final year as president.
(So, the 4 comments are from 2008 too.)
I've heard people say Trump makes Bush look good, but I don't agree at all.
Bush was a precursor:
it was his response to 9/11 in the first place that got us into these endless murderous wars & policies [Guantanamo] and amped up the ongoing politics of fear.
Thanks for this great quote. This fits right in with conversation between the buoys this morning in the whirlpool... American facism...and would you want to have coffee with Hitler? One of the women's husband's had actually had tea with Oswald Mosley (post WWII I believe) and she said was very mad and wouldn't speak to him for a day...that led to conversation about whether or not to engage the enemy in conversation or/and confrontation.
ReplyDeleteI guess Dorothy Thompson actually was in the position of having tea with the enemy, as it were, and wrote a book called I Met Hitler (or something like that). I need to read up more on her.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this immediately made me think of Bushy, not global politics. My dad loves nothing more than to read books of commentary on our brainless leader's antics, and he positively ate up Naomi Wolf's "The End of America." I've not read it myself, but according to Dad/Wolf, Bushy is just FLYING through the 10 steps to fascism ...
ReplyDeleteI just have to note that the morning after I left the comment about Osward Mosley, his son Max (head of Formula One racing and tied in with AAA) made the papers for a S&M sex video where he dresses in a German uniform and barks orders in German to five women dressed in striped prison uniforms ... very Nazi prison guard fantasy. It was just so wierd to come across that I had to share it you.
ReplyDeleteGood point.
ReplyDeleteWe need to get rid of the electoral college. Stupid hanging chads, and an overly gentlemanly Al Gore, started this spiral.
ReplyDelete